This invention relates generally to the production of molded articles of manufacture, and more particularly to the production of molded plastic or composite articles of manufacture.
Traditional methods of molding parts, for example plastic or composite parts, by vacuum molding, sheet compound molding, reaction injection molding, injection molding and/or rotational molding have heretofore required an expensive, complex and specific tool with which to form a particular molded part shape. Thus, should a plurality of shapes of molded parts be desired or required, a separate, specific tool is required to fabricate each specifically shaped part, thus substantially increasing the costs to manufacturers.
Further, should a manufacturer desire to include features such as undercuts in a molded part, expensive, complicated collapsible tooling is required to remove the tool from the molded part in the area of the undercut. Such expensive, complicated tooling generally must include a complex system of slides and ways to accomplish such collapsing to remove the tool from the formed part. Thus, manufacturers have either had to purchase or construct such complex tooling in order to form undercuts in their molded parts, or have simply had to forego such undercuts and in the process do without the substantial functional and aesthetic benefits and attributes attributable to such undercuts.
It is therefore one objective of the present invention to provide a method of forming an article of manufacture including undercuts therein which does not require the use of expensive, complicated collapsible tooling to accomplish the formation of the undercuts in the part.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method of forming articles of manufacture of various configurations utilizing only a single generic tool rather than a plurality of specific tools fabricated for each specific part configuration.
The present invention attains the stated objectives by providing a method of forming an article of manufacture including an undercut therein. The method comprises providing a tool, removably positioning at least one consumable form adjacent to the tool, providing settable material from which to mold a finished part, molding the material on the tool including on the form so as to encapsulate the form within the molded material to thereby form an undercut therein, allowing the molded material to set to form the finished part, and separating the tool from the finished part and the encapsulated form.
The settable material may be plastic. The plastic material may be a preformed blank in the form of a sheet or tub. The sheet or tub may be vacuum molded onto the tool and form. The finished part may be a casket or many other articles of manufacture.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the form includes fasteners premounted thereon whereby cooperating hardware may be attached to the form fasteners after molding the plastic material onto the tool and form. In the case of caskets, the premounted form fasteners or hardware may be used to attach casket handling hardware. The premounted form fasteners could be used for a variety of other purposes for example as attachment sites for additional components, containers, electrical or fluid connectors etc.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the form is colored and/or textured and the material is translucent whereby the color and/or texture of the form is visible through the translucent material.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a method of forming articles of manufacture of various configurations utilizing a single generic tool is provided. The method comprises the steps of providing a single generic tool, removably positioning at least one consumable form adjacent to the tool, providing settable material from which to mold a finished part, molding the material on the tool including on the form so as to encapsulate the form within the molded material to thereby define a specific configuration for the finished part, allowing the molded material to set to form the finished part, separating the tool from the finished part and the encapsulated form, and repeating the above steps with differently shaped forms removably affixed to the single generic tool in different locations to produce a plurality of finished parts of varying configurations with the single generic tool.
One advantage of the present invention is that a method of forming an article of manufacture is provided wherein undercuts may be readily included in the shape of the finished part, yet without having to employ the use of expensive, complicated and complex collapsible tools which incorporate slides and ways.
Another advantage of the present invention is that a method of forming articles of manufacture of various shapes with a single generic tool is provided thereby obviating the need to have a specific, custom tool manufactured to produce each differently shaped finished part.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent during the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings herein, in which: